Saudi Arabia downs Yemeni rebel missile

Saudi Arabia’s air defences on 27 April intercepted a missile fired by Yemeni rebels, days after the insurgents’ second-in-command was killed in an air raid by Riyadh and its allies.

The missile, the latest in a series of similar attacks, was heading towards the kingdom’s southern coastal city of Jizan, state-run Al-Ekhbariya television said.

Saudi Arabia launched a military coalition in 2015, to battle the Huthi rebels in its southern neighbour and restore the internationally-recognised Yemeni government to power.

The Huthis control Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, as well as much of Yemen’s north and the key Hodeida port on the country’s western coastline.

Riyadh on 25 April confirmed it was behind an air strike on the Yemeni capital that killed Saleh al-Sammad, President of the Huthis’ Supreme Political Council, on 19 April.

The rebels will hold a public funeral for Sammad in Sanaa on 28 April.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen conflict, triggering what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Yemen now stands at the brink of famine.

The alliance imposed a total blockade on Yemen’s ports earlier this year in retaliation for the rebel missile attacks. The blockade has since been partially lifted, but access to the impoverished country remains limited.

In March, an Egyptian laborer became the first known fatality in a rebel missile attack on Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom accuses its rival Iran of smuggling missiles to the Huthis. Tehran denies the charge.